Stocks slumped for most of the day as the selling that had gripped the market for most of December resumed. At its lowest, the Dow was down 611 points and the S&P off by 70.

Even with the rally, the indexes remain sharply lower for December and down for the full year with only two trading sessions remaining.

Gainers outnumbered losers in the S&P 500 by 3 to 2. In early afternoon, only 5 stocks in the benchmark index were higher.

____

11:55 a.m.

Stocks are down sharply, unable to build on the prior day’s strong performance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped around 350 points in late morning trading Thursday after dropping as much as 528 points earlier.

Technology companies and health care stocks, big gainers on Wednesday when the market had its best day in 10 years, took some of the heaviest losses in the broad slide. Energy companies fell along with the price of oil.

The market remains on track for its worst December since 1931 and could finish 2018 with its steepest losses in a decade.

The S&P 500 index fell 39 points, or 1.6 percent, to 2,427. The Dow slid 359 points, or 1.5 percent, to 22,520. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 127 points, or 1.9 percent, to 6,427.

___

9:35 a.m.

Wall Street’s wild Christmas week goes on, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumping 300 points at the open Thursday, a day after notching its biggest-ever point gain.

Volatility has been the norm in December. The Dow has dropped 1 percent or more in eight of the 17 trading sessions.

Even with Wednesday’s big gains, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are all down more than 10 percent for the month.

The price of oil fell 1.8 percent after posting its biggest increase in two years Wednesday. Shares of Chevron dropped 1.6 percent.

Bank stocks fell along with Treasury yields. Bank of America, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs slipped more than 1 percent as the yield on the the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.76 percent from 2.79 percent.